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"Bittersweet" Montargis: Pithie second on stage 2 of Paris-Nice
Laurence Pithie finished the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice in second place in a bunch sprint. Once again.
Groundhog Day for Laurence Pithie is not in February, but in March. And apparently limited to central France. More precisely: Montargis. The small town, a good 100 kilometres south of Paris city centre, is a good place for the man from New Zealand. But not the best.
He finished the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice here in second place. Again. Whereas two years ago it was Arvid de Kleijn who had denied him victory in his debut at the "Race to the Sun", this time it was Max Kanter.
"Coming second is always a bittersweet feeling," says Laurence. "It's nice, but first would be nicer."
Second is nice. But first would be nicer.
On a stage that was actually made for a clear bunch sprint in terms of profile, only a few of the pure sprinters made it to the finishing straight due to the winding finale. "The team did an incredible job. We took command in the dangerous part and managed to stay out of trouble in this hectic finale."
Laurence Pithie at Paris-Nice
© Getty Images
And on top of that, to fight for the day's victory. "I'm not a pure sprinter, but with this support from the team, I can keep up at the front," said an energised Laurence. "When Kanter went, I hung onto him from the right, but then got squeezed a bit. However, I managed to keep the other guys away and got back into his slipstream, but had no chance of passing him."
Now six seconds behind the leader, Laurence is third in the overall standings. However, a completely different challenge awaits on stage 3 of the long-distance race. The next team time trial of the season awaits: 23.5 kilometres in a collective battle against the clock.
